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Megalops

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Description

Tarpons are large fish of the genus Megalops; one species is native to the Atlantic, and the other to the Indo-Pacific Seas. They are the only members of the family Megalopidae.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalops, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	2346650	https://www.gbif.org/species/2346650
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	35338	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=35338

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : Megalops

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Actinopteri : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : Megalops

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
superclass	Actinopterygii
class	Actinopteri
subclass	Neopterygii
-	Teleosteomorpha	Arratia et al. 2004
-	Teleostei
-	Elopocephalai
-	Elopocephala
-	Elopomorpha
order	Elopiformes	Sauvage 1875
family	Megalopidae	Jordan 1923
genus	Megalops	Lacépède 1803

Scientific Name

Megalops Lacépède, 1803

Name Published In

Lacépède, Bernard G. É. de. 1803. Histoire naturelle des poissons. Plasson, Paris. Vol. 5: i-lxviii, 1-803, index, pls. 1-21.

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Megalops	genus	belongs to Elopidae	stated without evidence	Woodward, 1901
Megalops	genus	belongs to Megalopiformes	second hand	Sepkoski, 2002
Megalops	genus	belongs to Megalopidae	stated without evidence	Fierstine et al., 2012

Status (PBDB)

extant

Taxon Size (PBDB)

Extant Size (PBDB)

1 (25%)

First Recorded Appearance

113 - 101 Ma
Early/Lower Cretaceous

Environment

marine (based on Vertebrata)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Elopiformes)

Diet

carnivore (based on Elopiformes)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

J. J. Sepkoski, Jr. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 363:1-560

Common Name(s)

イセゴイ, Tarpons

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalops

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Megalops angulata species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Megalops atlanticus species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		5	23.0 Ma Miocene	1.80 Ma Pleistocene
Megalops bicrenulatus species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Megalops cyprinoides species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Megalops oblongus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	56.0 Ma Paleocene	56.0 Ma Paleocene
Megalops priscus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	56.0 Ma Paleocene	56.0 Ma Paleocene

Obsolete Names

Name	Source	Taxon Rank	Taxonomy
Magalops	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : *Magalops*
Tarpon Jordan & Evermann, 1896	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : *Tarpon*
Amia Browne, 1789	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : *Amia*
Brisbania Castelnau, 1878	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : *Brisbania*
Oculeus Commerson, 1803	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Elopiformes : Megalopidae : *Oculeus*

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1803	Megalops Lacépède
1901	Megalops Woodward p. 24
1966	Megalops Casier p. 117
2001	Megalops Purdy et al. p. 162
2002	Megalops Sepkoski, Jr.
2012	Megalops Fierstine et al. p. 12
2017	Megalops Hastings and Dooley p. 83

References

Sepkoski, Jr. J. J. (2002) A compendium of fossil marine animal genera, Bulletins of American Paleontology 363, 1-560

Woodward A. S. (1901) , Catalogue of Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History), Part IV, 1-636

Casier E. (1966) , Faune ichthyologique du London Clay, 1-510

Purdy R. W., Schneider V. P., et al (2001) The Neogene sharks, rays, and bony fishes from Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 90, 71-202

Fierstine H. L., Huddleston R. W., et al (2012) Catalog of the Neogene bony fishes of California: A ystematic inventory of all published accounts, Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 159, 1-206

Hastings A. K., Dooley A. C. (2017) Fossil-collecting from the middle Miocene Carmel Church Quarry marine ecosystem in Caroline County, Virginia, The Geological Society of America Field Guide 47, 77-88 doi:10.1130/2017.0047(03)

Fricke, R., Eschmeyer, W. N. & Van der Laan, R. (eds). (2019). Catalog of Fishes: Genera, Species, References. Electronic version accessed dd mmm 2019. - via World Register of Marine Species

Lacepède, B.G.E. (1803). Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome Cinquieme. 5(1-21): i-lxviii + 1-803 + index. - via World Register of Marine Species

Losse, G.F. (1968). The elopoid and clupeoid fishes of East African coastal waters. JEANHS 27(2): 77-115 - via World Register of Marine Species

van der Land, J.; Costello, M.J.; Zavodnik, D.; Santos, R.S.; Porteiro, F.M.; Bailly, N.; Eschmeyer, W.N.; Froese, R. (2001). Pisces, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 357-374 - via World Register of Marine Species

Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes, 2003: null. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Eschmeyer, William N., ed., 1998: Catalog of Fishes. Special Publication of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information, no. 1, vol 1-3. 2905. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Eschmeyer online (Jun 2012) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000/Eschmeyer, 1998 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Sepkoski, J. J., Jr. (2002). A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology. 363, 1-560. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

WoRMS (Mar 2013) - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Eschmeyer, William N., 1990: null. Genera of Recent Fishes. iii + 697. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Hist. Nat. Poiss., 5 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Nelson, Joseph S., 1994: null. Fishes of the World, Third Edition. xvii + 600. - via Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

FishBase - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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